United Australia Party enters Queensland state election

Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer has announced his United Australia Party will contest the upcoming Queensland election in an effort to “give Labor the boot” from power.

CLIVE Palmer’s United Australia Party will contest the looming state election, with former rugby league player and Townsville mayoral aspirant Greg Dowling to lead the party.

The billionaire today announced his party would be running candidates across the state as he said it was time to “give Labor the boot”.

Speaking alongside Mr Dowling in Brisbane, Mr Palmer said his party’s polling showed neither of the major parties could win in their own right – warning the result could depend on minor parties and the flow of preferences.

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Clive Palmer says his United Australia Party will contest the state election. Picture: Richard Gosling

Mr Palmer said the party’s campaign would kick off from next week, but confirmed he would not personally run in a seat, saying he was “too old for politics”.

“It’s time to give Labor the boot, and I couldn’t think of a better leader than Greg Dowling to make it happen,” the mining magnate said.

“Queensland needs a better future, we need to end the misery of Labor.”

Asked who he would prefer to be premier, Mr Palmer said he would have to look at their policies to “see what is best for the state”.

“I can only go on the current track record of the current government, and it’s very poor,” he said.

Mr Palmer said the party had not yet decided where their preferences would go, saying they would have discussions with all of the parties.

“We have done polling throughout the state which indicates we’ve got a much higher level of support at this stage than I expected,” he said.

“Our polling has suggested that neither of the major parties can win in their own right – that the election depends upon the other parties and the flow of preferences.

“The challenge for our party is to make sure that we can get ahead of the others.”

Former rugby league player Greg Dowling will lead the United Australia Party at the state election. Picture: Richard Gosling.

Mr Palmer said he did not believe his campaign would be hampered by new election caps recently introduced by the Palaszczuk Government.

Under the changes, parties will be allowed to spend $92,000 for every endorsed candidate – or a maximum of about $8.55 million if they run in every electorate.

Third parties, which includes unions, would not be able to spend more than $87,000 per electorate and no more than $1 million state wide.

About 40 candidates are expected to be endorsed over the next two weeks, but Mr Palmer said he imagined it could reach about 70 seats.

Mr Dowling will run in the seat of Townsville, which Labor currently holds with a very slim margin of less than one per cent.

The former rugby league player lost the 2020 Townsville mayoral election after he secured about 17 per cent of the vote.

Asked about Mr Palmer’s announcement today, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said, “Mr Palmer was taking us to court to fully open up all the borders. I think that says a lot about Mr Palmer.”

Originally published as United Australia Party enters Queensland state election